#80 - Fungi, Forests, and the Tiger Mill Logging Project in Walla Walla’s Municipal Watershed

In this episode, I interview Paul Lynn, a Walla Walla, Washington-based mycology educator, business owner and public-lands advocate, about fungal ecology, mycelium networks, and how logging disrupts soils’ “sponge” function that stores and releases water. Paul links fungi to forest hydrology, climate processes, and a precautionary approach given how little is known about fungal communities. Our conversation focuses on the 38,000-acre Tiger Mill Project, a quote, unquote, “wildfire-risk-reduction timber sale” in and around Walla Walla’s heavily protected municipal watershed within a roadless area adjacent to the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness. Paul argues the project is a subsidized extraction effort using black-box models and flawed assumptions, risking worsening forest drying, fire behavior, sedimentation, and flood impacts in a rain-on-snow zone, and is positioned as a pilot for watershed logging elsewhere like in Bend and Portland Oregon, and Seattle, Washington.https://youtube.com/shorts/XX0jIhtVjFghttps://youtube.com/shorts/qOhp9yqJidUhttps://youtube.com/shorts/hLPbptKCzYEhttps://youtube.com/shorts/fFXVC_Hldl8Confluence SeriesWalla Walla WatershedsFungaia02:18 Meet Paul Lynn03:41 Mycology to Ecology06:36 Mycelium and Precaution08:43 Logging Impacts Soil Sponge10:47 Foraging and Drought12:33 Disturbance Morels and Spores15:01 Responsible Mushroom Picking18:04 Roots and Walla Walla20:55 Blue Mountains Microclimates24:48 Into Forest Activism29:15 Tiger Mill Pilot Project32:55 Wildfire Risk Narrative34:48 Water Stakes Floods and Fire36:59 Why Logging Worsens Hydrology40:21 Fire History and Recovery41:39 Endless Management Loop42:59 Trout After Wildfire44:41 Local Politics And Players48:36 Fire Risk Logging Debate51:05 Grassroots Education Strategy54:58 Money Grants And Liability59:13 Tiger Mill Project Details01:02:36 Modeling And NEPA Loopholes01:08:12 Flood Risk And Sediment01:12:07 Water Scarcity Big Picture01:16:18 Confluence Series And Links Get full access to Our Public Lands Podcast at ourpubliclandspodcast.substack.com/subscribe